8/31/08

A powerseller is one of those elite salespeople on eBay who is able to produce at least $1,000 in income from sales a month. Many of these sellers got started just like you or I do on the auction site; by selling simple "trash" from around the house that others viewed as treasure. They developed a knack for online sales, and eventually it grew into a beautiful business, usually a niche they specialized in. Collectibles, antiques, sports memorabilia, kitchen items, electronics, you name it..they all have a home and potential market on eBay.

Fast forward to present day, where the World Wide Web is no longer a secret place to sell things or make money. Let's face it everyone's doing it. (just scan through the 1,500 or so Make Money blogs on Entrecard). eBay of course being the thriving business model it is, has decided to put some interesting new changes into effect, which can hurt sellers' profits considerably. These changes involve acceptable payment types and shipping caps.

First off, eBay will soon restrict payment options to Paypal and a few other online pay sites like Paypal. This means the check or money order option is no more. While you and I may have Paypal accounts, there's a large percentage of online surfers who don't want anything to do with it. They've been scared by the horror stories of scams where Credit card info is stolen, etc. To compound matters for sellers though, Paypal pulls a fee out of whatever money you receive in a sale. A check or money order didn't do that to a seller. Mark one down in favor of eBay.

eBay will also be cracking down hard on its shipping pricing by sellers. When The Monetizer was putting a few items up for sale recently, a nice red Warning box popped up. It was a friendly, yet assertive way of eBay telling me they will be "capping" shipping prices. For example, I was charging $4.75 which is the lowest Priority mail charge these days. eBay informed me that $3.00 would be their cap price and I should consider instituting it ahead of the change. Ha! Well, mark two down for eBay.

Folks, The Monetizer is far from a complainer and I understand that the main objective for a business is to make money and be profitable. However, eBay must understand that it's the buyers and sellers who have made their business the success that it is. When eBay starts restricting the buyers and sellers, they may seriously jeapordize the original online business model which made them great. Even so, let me take this in a positive direction: It will be those sellers who can find clever ways to adapt with a changing eBay, that will continue to enjoy success.All this said, stay tuned Monetizer fans as I will be presenting a 5 part series on How to Make Money Selling on eBay! (no joke!)